Be My Escape
by thelostblogger
Summary: Bella's stuck in an abusive relationship and Edward will do anything to save her from it. What happens when his own feelings start getting in the way. All Human, normal pairings, read and review.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my second attempt at a Twilight fan fiction, I deleted the last one due to lack of reviews and such, so please, let me know what you think with a review.**

**Unfortunately I do not own Twilight or any characters associated with it, they all belong to the brilliant mind of Stephenie Meyer. **

**

* * *

**

**Edward's Point Of View**

I sped through the streets of downtown Port Angeles, swerving around any traffic that got in my way. I turned off the music as the song slowly ended and maneuvered the Volvo into the tight parking spot with ease. I looked out the window at the local club that was holding its annual karaoke night and my eyes scanned over the line of people, noticing the group of girls that were smiling and waving at me from their spot in line. Climbing out of the car, I walked past the line of people to the bouncer, ignoring the yells of people telling me to go to the back of the line.

"End of the line," I looked back over at the bouncer who looked like he had zero intention of letting me in before the rest of the people. I saw him look over his list once more when I didn't budge, "Name?"

"Edward Cullen."

He looked back down at the list, "Mr. Cullen, excuse my rudeness," his hand moved to the rope, letting me in, "Enjoy your night." I gave him a wave before walking into the club, the sound of music and an inexperienced person trying to belt out the words to a Mariah Carey song, a small chuckle escaped my lips as I made my way across the room to where my family sat.

"Alice, out of everyplace you could have your party you chose this one?"

"Yes I did," She laughed as my mom wrapped her arms around me.

"Edward, what took you so long?"

"Plane was late, I'll be back, I need a drink if I'm going to enjoy tonight at all." I made my way to the bar in the far corner of the club, "Rum and Coke." I turned around and looked at all the people in the club as a song came on between the line of people waiting to embarrass themselves. I made my way back over to the table sitting down as Alice began jumping excitedly where she sat and leaned forward towards our mom and out of Jasper's arms.

"Mom, Bella's up." I looked at the stage as a petite girl with brown hair took the stage and stood nervously at the microphone. When the music slowly began everyone that was dancing or talking stopped and watched as she took a breath to sing the first words of the song.

"_Say you're sorry, that face of an angel_

_Comes out just when you need it to_

_As I paced back and forth all this time_

_Cause I honestly believed in you_

_Holding on the days drag on_

_Stupid girl, I should've known_

_I should've known_

_I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairytale_

_I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet_

_Lead her up the stairwell_

_This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town_

_I was a dreamer before you went and let me down_

_Now it's too late for you and your white horse_

_To come around_

_Maybe I was Naïve, got lost in your eyes_

_And never really had a chance_

_My mistake, I didn't know to be in love_

_You had to fight to have the upper hand_

_I had so many dreams about you and me_

_Happy endings, well now I know_

_I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairytale_

_I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet_

_Lead her up the stairwell_

_This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town_

_I was a dreamer before you went and let me down_

_Now it's too late for you and your white horse_

_To come around_

_And there you are on your knees_

_Begging for forgiveness, begging for me_

_Just like I always wanted, but I'm so sorry. . ._

_Because I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairytale_

_I'm gonna find someone someday_

_Who might actually treat me well_

_This is a big world, that was a small town_

_There in my rearview mirror disappearing now_

_And it's too late for you and your white horse_

_Now it's too late for you and your white horse_

_To catch me now_

_Oh try and catch me now_

_It's too late to catch me now__."_

The room erupted into applause as the last note of the song rang through the room. I sat there dazed by the song she had just sang, knowing somehow there was a meaning behind why she chose that song. She made her way off the stage, stumbling over the cord for the microphone as Alice ran up to her and drug her over.

"Bella you sounded wonderful," I watched silently as Esme stood up and gave Bella one of her infamous motherly hugs and pulled to sit down. I scooted over to make room as she sat down between Esme and myself as the three of the started talking.

"Emmett let's go get something else to drink." Emmett stood as Rosalie shot me a look for dragging him away.

"I'll join you guys," Jasper stood up quickly taking any opportunity to get away from the girls conversation, "Do you want to come Carlisle?" I looked over at my father who shook his head, obviously intrigued in the conversation. I turned around and came face to face with no one other than Jacob Black.

"Jacob."

"Edward," He put in no effort to hide the sour tone in his voice or remove the glare from his face as he responded. He walked past me too the edge of the table we had just left, "Bella." I noticed her jump at the sound of his voice.

"Jake, what are you doing here?"

"I came here to find you, let's go." She stood up quickly giving everyone a small wave before walking off with Jacob. I stood there and watched the two of them walk out of the club, noticing how he gripped her by the arm harder than he needed to.

* * *

**There you have it, that's the end of chapter 1, please review and let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**As with the first chapter, please let me know what you think through a review.**

******Unfortunately I do not own Twilight or any characters associated with it, they all belong to the brilliant mind of Stephenie Meyer. **

**Bella's Point Of View**

I kept myself from yelping as Jacob squeezed my arm, leading me from the club. He let go once we were outside and I stood there as he stormed off.

"Bella! Let's go, now." I didn't budge, knowing all too well that this would be bad later on. He made his way back over to me and grasped me by the arm again leading me to his car. I opened the door and sat on the seat, buckling the seatbelt before moving as close to the window as I could. "What were you doing?"

"What?"

"What were you doing with the Cullens?"

"Jake, you know I'm staying with them-"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you have to be with them the rest of the day does it?"

"It doesn't hurt anyone if I do," The second it left my mouth I knew it was the wrong thing to say. A second later I felt a sharp sting surge through my cheek as his hand made contact with my skin.

--

The second Jacob stopped in the Cullen's driveway I was out the door and heading towards the house and let out a sigh of relief when I heard his tires crunch back over the gravel road. I brought a hand up to my tender face, flinching from the touch. I opened the door and quietly shut it behind me, jumping when the lights flicked on.

"Bella," I turned and saw Alice standing by the bottom of the stairs. I ran over and started crying while she gave me a hug, "Come on, let's get something to put on your face."

We walked into the kitchen and Alice walked over to the fridge, pulling out a bag of frozen peas and handed them to me. I held them up to my face as Alice got me something to eat and put the plate in front of me.

"Thank you Alice, you have no idea how much I appreciate this."

"Bella, it's not problem, I'm your best friend that's what I'm for." I gave her a smile before taking a bite of Esme's homemade apple pie, relishing it's wonderful taste.

"What's going on down here?"

I stayed looking at the piece of pie, not daring to have anyone else see me holding frozen peas to my face.

"Edward," I looked at Alice, pleading with my eyes not to mention anything, "We were just having some pie, then we were going to go up to bed."

"Well, I wouldn't mind having a piece of pie myself." _Shit_ I quickly moved the bag of peas from my cheek and looked down at my pie, making sure my face was never visible to Edward. He took a seat next to me and started eating his pie, "So, why pie so late?"

"Bella just got home, so she missed out earlier." I heard him chuckle under his breath and I glanced over at him from the corner of my eye. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I saw him completely for the first time. He was gorgeous, tall, strong, his golden hair messy like he ran his hands through it all day. I looked away and ate my last piece of pie before standing up and putting the peas in the freezer and rinsing my plate off.

"Well, goodnight Edward." Alice and I started walking from the room, only to be stopped in our tracks by Edward.

"Why did you have the peas out?" I looked at Alice, afraid of someone else finding out.

"Bella has a thing with eating frozen peas."

"Really, then how come they aren't open?" _Shit._ I jumped out of his grasp when he gently tried to turn me around. "Right, that's all the answer I needed, Bella turn around."

"Why?"

"Just turn around." I hesitated having zero intention of turning around, "Bella, please."

I glanced at Alice, "Just do it Bella, he won't stop until you do." I took a deep breath and turned around, staring at the floor.

I felt him gently place a finger on my chin, tilting my face up, "Bella, did Jacob do this to you?"

"No. I just fell."

"Bella," I looked at Alice, shooting her a warning look, which she ignored, "Edward, Jacob did do this, but don't do anything, it will only provoke him more."

"Not if he can't get to her." I looked back over at Edward, shocked by what he said.

"How do you plan on keeping me from him, he knows where I'm at, besides that he goes to school with us in Phoenix."

He shrugged, "I haven't gotten that far, but we don't have to let him see you when you're here."

"And why do you care? This is the first time you've ever met me."

"Maybe so, but you're obviously very close to my family and I'm pretty sure they will all help to keep him away."

"Just stop okay? This doesn't involve you, it hasn't before and it still doesn't." I turned around and walked up the stairs, shutting the door to the room I was staying in. I took off my clothes and slid into a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top before curling up on my bed in the down comforter.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

**As usual, give me your thoughts and enjoy this chapter.**

******Unfortunately I do not own Twilight or any characters associated with it, they all belong to the brilliant mind of Stephenie Meyer. **

**Edward's Point Of View**

I stared at the ceiling, unable to get even an ounce of sleep tonight, trying to think of a way to keep her from seeing Jacob again. I climbed out of the bed and walked down the hall to Alice's room.

"Alice, wake up."

She rolled over, her arm hitting my head in the process, "What?"

"We have to do something."

"Care to tell me what about?"

"Bella, we need to do something to keep her away from Jacob."

She sat up and looked at her clock before switching on the lamp by her bed, "Edward, she told you to stay out of it. It doesn't involve you, I know you want to help, but it's best if you don't. You know how Jacob feels about you."

"Yeah, I know. But don't you want to do something about it? You're her best friend; you can't possibly enjoy watching her come home with new bruises."

"I don't Edward, but what am I going to do about it? What she said was true, if we try to stop it he will just get worse. Why do you care so much?"

I didn't say anything, just thought for a minute, why did I care so much? I just met her last night, "I don't know Alice, I just feel like I can't let her get hurt anymore."

"I'll try talking to her okay? Just go back to bed," She flipped the lamp back off and turned her back to me as she drifted back to sleep. I walked out of Alice's room and sat on the bottom step of the stairs up to where my bedroom was, as I thought of ways to convince Bella not to go out with Jacob again and tried to push the memory of why Jacob hated me out of my head. I looked up as I heard small footsteps walking against the wood floors, heading towards the steps. I watched as Bella walked past me, completely unaware of my presence and walked down the steps and out the front door. I got up and followed her, anger surging through me when I saw Jacob leaning against his car. I snuck out the front door and crouched behind the bush.

"Bella, I'm sorry about earlier, it won't happen again, I promise."

"You promise? You always say that Jake, when are you going to mean it? I can't keep saying the same thing every time someone asks why my face is bruised or asks why I have bruises all over my arms. You have to stop Jake, now. Every time you say you're sorry you do it again, then find me later and apologize saying it won't happen and do it again the next day. I can't keep doing this Jake."

"What, are you saying you don't trust me, or are you breaking up with me Bella?" I could hear the anger filling his voice and I knew Bella could to because she took a tentative step back. He reached out and grabbed her arms, "Bella, since when do you care?"

"Since, since I'm tired of being abused Jake."

"I'm not abusing you Bella."

"Like hell you aren't," Bella turned her head sharply towards where I had just appeared from behind the bushes, Jacob looking around her at me, a glare plastered across his face. "She flinches when anyone but Alice or Esme tries to hug her and you're going to tell me that that's not because of you?"

"This doesn't involve you Edward."

"Oh, but I think it does. See she's staying at my family's house, not yours, and at the moment you are on my property and unless you want the cops to get involved in this situation I suggest you let go of Bella and get the hell out of here."

"Bella, let's go."

"No Jake, I'm not going with you when you're like this."

"What?" The anger surged through his voice by this point and in a split second I saw him move his hand to slap her. I jumped in front of Bella and pushed her behind me, grabbing his hand and punching him square in the face.

"Leave, now." He glared at me before shooting a look at Bella and getting back in his truck and tearing out of the driveway. I turned around after I was sure he was gone to see Bella shaking where she stood, tears flowing down her cheeks. I walked over and wrapped my arms around her, "Bella, it's okay, as long as you're here we won't let him near you. I won't let him hurt you again, _I_ _promise_." I readjusted my arms around her, trying to make her feel protected, safe, anything to help her stop crying, stop fearing for her life.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for the reviews so far guys, let's see if we can keep it up. At the moment I haven't hit a writer's block just yet, so I'll keep going until I do, mainly because if I don't write it down while it's in my head I forget. So as usual, enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think through a review.**

**Also as usual, I do not own Twilight or any of the characters associated with Twilight because I am not Stephenie Meyer.**

**

* * *

Bella's Point of View**

My eyes fluttered open and I blinked continuously remembering where I was. I glanced around the room, the Cullen's living room focusing in on my vision. I lay back down and ran my hand through my hair, trying to remember what happened last night.

_I was lying in my bed, curled up under the comforter when my phone vibrated on the counter behind me. I reached up, grabbing the phone before flipping it open to find a message from Jake. _

_**Bella come outside,**_

_**I need to talk to you.**_

_**-Jake**_

_I walked out of my room, shutting the door quietly behind me, before tiptoeing down the steps and out the front door. Once outside I walked normally over to where Jacob was leaning against my car, fear filling my body as I remember what had happened earlier. He looked up when I was about three feet from him. _

"_Bella, I'm sorry about earlier, it won't happen again, I promise." I felt an internal battle of forgiving him and another part telling me not to, he'd just keep doing it. I remembered what Edward said earlier, about how he couldn't hurt me if he couldn't get to me. But no one was here right now, so what was I suppose to do? I took a deep breath, my mind deciding for itself. _

"_You promise? You always say that Jake, when are you going to mean it? I can't keep saying the same thing every time someone asks why my face is bruised or asks why I have bruises all over my arms. You have to stop Jake, now. Every time you say you're sorry you do it again, then find me later and apologize saying it won't happen and do it again the next day. I can't keep doing this Jake."_

"_What, are you saying you don't trust me, or are you breaking up with me Bella?"Anger flooded his voice from what I had said, that was one of my worst ideas yet. I flinched when he clamped his hands on my arms again, somehow managing to grasp the same bruises he had left earlier, "Bella, since when do you care?"_

"_Since, since I'm tired of being abused Jake."_

"_I'm not abusing you Bella."_

"_Like hell you aren't," I snapped my gaze from Jacob's rage filled face to see Edward running from the steps to stand behind me. "She flinches when anyone but Alice or Esme tries to hug her and you're going to tell me that that's not because of you?"_

"_This doesn't involve you Edward."_

"_Oh, but I think it does. See she's staying at my family's house, not yours, and at the moment you are on my property and unless you want the cops to get involved in this situation I suggest you let go of Bella and get the hell out of here."_

"_Bella, let's go," He tugged on my arms telling my body it was time to leave, but I refused. I planted my feet firmly in the ground and looked him square in the eye, a new found courage running through my veins._

"_No Jake, I'm not going with you when you're like this."_

"_What?" I saw the anger flood into his face at what I had just done. I prepared myself for the blow that was sure to come, despite Edward's appearance. The next thing I knew I was behind Edward and Jake was staggering back after taking a blow to the face. _

"_Leave, now." He glared at Edward, before shooting me a look that I knew all too well meant I was in for it next time we were together. He snapped around, holding his nose as he climbed in his car before tearing out of the driveway. The second his car was out of distance the fear crept back into my body, terrifying me of what would happen next time. My body began trembling as waves of tears poured out of my eyes. I laid my face in my hands, as the tears continued flowing, my body trembling. I felt Edward wrap his arms around me, at first I just stood there before taking advantage of the comforting, protecting hug and wrapped my arms around his waist, my tears flowing faster than ever into his shirt. "Bella, it's okay, as long as you are here we won't let him near you. I won't let him hurt you again, I promise." _

My eyes shot open again as the memory slowly ended, and I sat up quickly. I walked into the kitchen looking at the time on the clock, 8:45. Esme and Carlisle would be up soon, followed by everyone else shortly after. I walked up the stairs to the bathroom attached to my bedroom and flicked on the light and looking at my reflection in the mirror. I had slight bruising around the edge of my eye from Jacob's slap at the club. I reached my hand up, touching it tentatively, wincing at how tender it was. I looked down at my arms, five bruises on each one from his tight grasp early this morning. I turned the shower on, letting the heat envelope the room and slid out of my pajamas before standing the shower, letting the warm water help me to forget the horrible memories from the night before if only for a few minutes. I reached down and grabbed my strawberry scented shampoo and lathered it into my hair the scent attacking my senses instantly. I shaved my legs quickly before rinsing the shampoo from my hair and stepping from the shower. I wrapped the towel around my small body and walked into the bedroom and slid into a pair of sweatpants and found a clean tank top to throw on. I stepped back into the bathroom, grimacing at my cheek and eye before flicking off the light and walked up the stairs and knocking quietly on Edward's door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello all. I've had a writing kick tonight so I'm going to be putting up about two more chapters at least tonight before I head off to get some sleep. This chapter isn't one of best if you ask me, but the one that's after it makes up for it in my book. As usual enjoy and review, let's try to get the number of review past 10. (:**

**And as usual, I do not own Twilight or any of the characters associated with it. ):**

* * *

Edward's Point of View

I looked at the door, deciding on if I wanted to answer it or not, going against what I wanted to do, I grabbed a shirt from off the floor and threw it on before opening the door, Bella standing on the other side. She looked up at me and I couldn't help but notice the bruise forming on the edge of her eye.

"Come in," She walked past me and sat on the edge of my bed. I walked over and sat beside her, noticing the bruises on her arms too, "How many times has this happened?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, too many to count. Anyway, I just wanted to come up here and tell you thank you for last night, things would have gotten a lot worse if you hadn't been there."

"Bella, there's no need for thanks; you shouldn't let him get away with what he's doing to you."

"I know that, but you saw how he reacted from what I said, imagine if I broke up with him. I'm afraid of him, I'm afraid of what he's going to do next." Her voice cracked as she finished, as tears began sliding down her cheeks. I wrapped an arm around her and gently rubbed her arm up and down trying to calm her down.

"Just don't go anywhere without Jasper, Emmett, or myself, we'll keep him away from you, I promise."

"Bella, what's going on?" I looked up as Alice ran across the floor, barely making a sound as she did so. She wrapped Bella in her arms and ushered her from the room. I got up and shut the door behind the two and found some clean clothes before jumping into the shower and washing up quickly before throwing on the clothes and going down into the kitchen.

"Good morning Mom," She grabbed me as I walked by to give me a hug.

"I just can't believe you finally decided to grace us with your appearance again."

"Mom, you know it's hard for me to get away from work, there's only so much time off I can get."

"I know, I just wish you came around more often." I gave her a kiss on the cheek before she handed me a plateful of eggs, bacon and toast. I poured a glass of orange juice and sat down on one of the seats by the island and started eating as Alice and Bella made their way into the kitchen, Bella's bruises hidden by Alice's make up magic. "And you two, eat up, you're both far too skinny." Bella glanced up at me from under her eyelashes as Emmett boomed into the kitchen.

"Good morning all." He walked up and gave Alice a hug that lifted her off the ground before giving Bella one as well, to which she just laughed. In the last 15 hours that was the first time I had heard her laugh. "Eddie, you should really grace show up more often, poor Bella here has had to deal with my teasing. I'm still surprised no one's snagged you yet little brother." Alice giggled from her seat beside me.

"Don't worry Emmett, it's not like they haven't tried."

"Oh Eddie remember Tanya?"

"Don't remind me," And so the joking continued and for a second I almost forgot about everything that had happened in the last 15 hours, until Bella's phone went off against the counter. She went to grab it and walked from the room, opening it as she left. About five minutes later I excused myself from the room and went to find where she went. She was trembling on the bottom of the stairs, her head in her hands, her phone across the room. I walked back into the kitchen, "Alice," she looked up and knew by the tone of my voice exactly what I meant. We both walked back out to the stairs, one of us sitting on each side of her.

"Bella what did he say?" Bella looked up at Alice then to me before staring ahead at the phone she had thrown across the room. When she didn't say anything I walked across the room and grabbed her phone flipping it open to a text message from Jacob.

_**Bella this is going to stop.**_

_**You can stay at my house in the**_

_**guest bedroom, but you sure as **_

_**hell aren't staying **_

_**with the Cullens anymore. If you don't**_

_**want to come, I don't care, you will anyway.  
**_

I handed the phone to Alice who looked up at me, fear in her own eyes. I placed a finger under Bella's chin and lifted her face to look at my own.

"Bella, we won't let him take you. We have no idea what he will do if you are there alone, but that means we need to get Emmett and Jasper to help as well." She nodded the tears still streaming down her face as I got up to go get the other two, Alice embracing her in a hug as I left. "Jasper, Emmett, can you guys come here?" They looked at me confused, but came none-the-less.

When they saw Bella crying in Alice's arms they both asked the same thing, "What's going on?"

"Jacob's been abusing Bella," I grabbed the phone and handed it to them.

"Eddie, I know Jacob's a little messed up, but do you really think he abuses Bella?"

"Yes I do, Alice go wash that make up off, please." Alice nodded taking Bella with her up the steps coming down a few minutes later, the bruise on Bella's eye looking worse than it had that morning.

"I'm going to kill Jacob," Anger seethed through Emmett's voice. Emmett thought of Bella like a sister and seeing Bella hurt drove him crazy.

"We aren't going to kill him Emmett, but we do have to make sure that he doesn't get her away from this house." They both nodded and went up the stairs to the library where the three of us would talk about what we were going to do while Alice talked to Bella. I stopped at the top of the stairs and looked back down, Alice was rubbing Bella's back as she cried into her hands again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Here would be one of the other chapters I promised you guys, and this one was my favorite to write, I love this chapter. I'm about to head off to write the next one because the ideas just keep coming tonight. I should prolong posting the chapters to make you guys wait it out a little bit, but then I'll forget to post them. Plus once school picks back up next week it will be hard enough to find time to post the chapters, let alone write them. Now I'm going to stop rambling and let you guys read this chapter and please, let me know what you think of chapter 6 of Be My Escape, because as I said, this one was my favorite one to write. Plus your reviews make me want to write more for you guys to read. (:**

**And again, I don't own Twilight or and of the characters. **

* * *

Bella's Point of View

I stood up from the stairs, wiping at the few straggling tears that slid down my face. I picked up my phone from the step and looked at Alice, "I think I'm just going to go take a nap."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded and walked past her up the stairs, closing my door softly behind me. I collapsed on my bed, my eyes slowly drifting shut. A dream played across my eyes as my breathing came in deep, even breaths. I was somewhere sunny, warm, and I felt carefree as if everything in my past had never happened...

_I walked through the Atlantis resort, finding my way through the winding paths behind the hotel, past the pools and elaborate slides destined to instill fear in whoever rode them. I stepped onto the hot, white sand searching the private resort beach. I walked to a relatively open spot on the beach and set my bag down before spreading the towel out. I reached down to the hem of my yellow sundress, pulling it up and over my head. I looked down, feeling self conscious in the bikini I had owned for years. A pair of strong arms wrapped around me gently and a pair of soft lips were at my ear._

"_Stop feeling so self conscious, you look beautiful." _

_A smile played across my lips, "Oh really?" _

_I turned around and wrapped my arms around Edward's neck smiling at him. Trying to ignore the looks the girls around us were giving me. _

"_Ignore them, this is our trip." I smiled again and leaned up to kiss him. "I think you need to get in the water."_

_I looked up into his eyes again and smiled, "I wouldn't bet on that." I took off running down the beach, my feet splashing in the waves that rolled up on the beach. I heard Edward chuckle, knowing it wouldn't be long before he caught me. His hand caught me by the wrist, spinning me around. He picked me up my head hanging over his shoulder, "No Edward stop!" My legs flailed as the cold water engulfed us and he set me down in front of him, his hands resting on my waist. A gasp escaped my mouth as a wave crashed into my back, pushing me against him. He moved his hand to my head, moving the hair from my face._

"_You're beautiful," I blushed a deep shade of pink as he smiled down at me before leaning down to kiss me._

A gentle knock on the door jolted me from my dreams just as Edward and I were about to kiss. I felt myself let out a grumble of annoyance before collecting my thoughts, "Come in." I felt a surge of butterflies surge into my stomach when Edward walked in and sat in the chair by the desk.

"How was your nap?"

"It was, good."

He smiled, "I'm glad. Well Emmett, Jasper, and I sat down and talked about everything and we're going to make absolutely positive that Jacob doesn't get anywhere near you."

"What about when Alice and I go back to school? Jacob goes to the University of Arizona too."

"We talked about that too, Alice joined in on that conversation. Now Alice has agreed to this, but we want to run it by you, what would you say to you and Alice joining me in New York and attending New York University? You two could stay at my penthouse, it has four bedrooms in it so you'd still have plenty of space. If you don't want to I understand, I mean it's-"

"Edward," He looked up at me, "You're rambling." I giggled at him as a light shade of pink filled his cheeks.

"I guess I am." He smiled at me, causing the butterflies to worsen.

"But, that sounds nice. I just hope Jacob doesn't find out about it."

"He won't, as far as he knows when you're semester picks up he'll be seeing you in class, but you'll be in New York."

I flipped the covers off of my legs and walked over to where he was sitting, leaning down and wrapping my arms around him in a huge. For a second he didn't do anything and I felt my face flush, but just as it did so I felt his arms wrap around me in response. I smiled against his shoulder and let the hug last for just a few seconds longer, savoring in the protection a simple hug was giving me. I let go and looked up at him, "Thank you."


	7. Chapter 7

**Well I finally sat down today and read through the chapters saved to my computer again. After almost a month of not updating, you will be getting three new chapters. The first two chapters are pretty short and the last one is the longest one I have written yet. As always, I would like to thank you all for reading and reviewing and enjoy the chapter. When you're finished please review and let me know what you thought. **

**And of course, I don't own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does.**

* * *

Edward's Point of View

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get myself to fall asleep. My mind kept flashing back to this afternoon when I was talking to Bella; her cheeks had a constant pink tint in them as if she were embarrassed. It was the first time I had seen her where she was somewhat carefree and not worried about Jacob. It was the first time I had seen her smile, she was beautiful. I climbed off my bed and sat at my desk, flipping the lamp on. I grabbed the notebook I hadn't touched in months and flipped past all the songs I had written to a blank page. I grabbed a pen and started writing, not quite sure what my mind was thinking. After a couple minutes the page was filled with lyrics, I read over them and wrote a name for the song on the top of the page, making a note in the corner of the date, and closed the notebook. I stood up and walked down the stairs into the kitchen and filled a glass with some water, leaning against the counter as I swallowed a mouth full of water.

"Hi." I coughed as I choked on the water and set the glass down on the counter, looking up at the person standing in the doorway even though I already knew who it was by her voice.

"Hey Bella, something wrong?" She shook her head and sat down on one of the stools at the island looking at me out of the corner of her eye. "Here," I turned around and grabbed a glass filling it with some water and handing it to her.

"Thanks," She took a drink and set the glass on the counter, a few silent moments passing before she cleared her throat. I looked up at her from where I stood and she was looking at the counter, her finger tracing the swirls in the granite. "So, how long have you lived in New York?"

"About three years now, I moved there after I graduated."

"You have to promise to show me where all the good spots are, some of the secret spots that not many people know about, that kind of thing."

I laughed, "I promise to show you around. I think you'll like New York, it's a great city, full of life."

She smiled and looked up at me through her eyelashes, "Good, I want to enjoy life again."

"Come with me," I sat the glass down on the counter and walked up the stairs into my bedroom, looking over my shoulder noticing how she stopped in the doorway fidgeting nervously. I laughed, "You can come in Bella."

"Oh," She walked in and looked around the room going over to the bookcase, gazing at all the books, "You're really organized."

"Yeah, that's what some find annoying about me," She laughed and pulled one of the books off the shelf and flipped through the pages.

"I love this book," I looked up from the drawer I was rifling through as she began reciting a line from the book, _"__A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment."_

"_Pride and Prejudice_, definitely in my top ten." She sat the book back up on the shelf and smiled at me as I stood up grabbing my phone and walking over to her. I opened the camera on the phone and held it up, "Smile."

"No," She tried her best to hide her giggle, but failed when she sneaked past me, a smile playing on her lips.

"Just one picture, please." I reached out and gently grabbed her hand, turning her around. She giggled again and looked up at me through her eyelashes.

"Fine, but just one." She smiled at me and I snapped the picture, saving it to my phone's memory.

"Now I need one more thing."

"Oh really, what might that be?"

"Your number, that way if you need anything you can call me." She smiled again and looked down, pink tinting her cheeks again.

"Fine," She grabbed my phone and put her number in before handing it back to me, "But wait, how am I ever going to be able to call you if I don't have your number?"

"Hm, I hadn't thought of that."

She laughed, "I'll be right back." She turned around and ran from the room, barely making a sound as she went. She walked back in the room, her own phone in hand. "Put your number in." I took the phone from her hands and added my number before handing it back, "Now since you got a picture of me, I get one of you." I laughed and smiled for her while she took the picture and closed her phone. "There, now you can get a hold of me and I can get a hold of you."

She turned around to leave the room and smiled at me over her shoulder before walking towards her room, "Goodnight Bella." She popped her head back in the doorway for a second.

"Goodnight Edward."

I laughed to myself again before going and shutting the door. I picked up my phone off the counter and plugged it in and lying down on my bed staring at the ceiling before flipping the light switch by my bed so the lights would shut off and shut my eyes, letting the calm that came with sleep overwhelm my senses.


	8. Chapter 8

**So here you all go, another chapter for your enjoyment. Let me know what you think and enjoy the chapter.**

**I don't own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does.**

* * *

Bella's Point of View

I was just beginning to drift off when my phone vibrated wildly on the counter beside the bed. I flicked on the lamp and grabbed my phone, flipping it open.

"Hello?"

"Bella, its Jacob."

I felt my stomach fill with fear, "What do you want?"

"I just want to talk to you, please Bella, meet me somewhere so we can talk."

"I don't know Jacob, I still don't know if I can trust you."

"Bella," I listened to him, trying to remind myself not to agree, "Remember when we met freshman year?"

I nodded, before remembering he wasn't in the room, "Yeah."

"I remember you were the most beautiful girl I had ever laid eyes on and I was nervous as hell," He laughed, "But then I finally built up the nerve to talk to you and your eyes never left mine, not once."

"Where do you want me to meet you?" I listened as he told me to meet him at the Forks High School parking lot and grabbed my keys, silently slipping out of the house. I begged my car to start quietly and jumped momentarily when it roared to life, hesitating for a second before pulling out of the long driveway. The fear that had crept into my stomach when he called still hadn't left when I reached the parking lot, Jacob was sitting in his truck. I turned my car off and knocked on the passenger window, which he rolled down the second after I knocked.

"Hop in."

"What? Jacob no, why?"

"Bella, please get in." I didn't budge and he climbed out and walked over to where I was standing, "Bella get in."

"No Jacob, I'm not getting in. I came to talk to you like you asked, now what do you want?"

"I want you to get in the car, now go." I could hear the anger surfacing in his voice, but stood too frozen with fear to move an inch. I gasped as he grasped my arm tightly, not like the gentle way Edward had done earlier that night. He opened the door and pushed me in the seat. He walked around and started the truck roaring out of the parking lot and onto the highway back out to Quileute reservation. I felt my breathing quicken as I tried my best to think of a way to get out of this. I put my hand on the door by the window seal, reaching down and pulling the lock on the door to unlock it and pulled the door handle. I jumped from the car the second the door was open hitting the ground harder than I thought I would and cringed as I tried to step on my left leg, falling the second I put any weight on it. I heard his breaks screech to a halt and stood up again, flinching from the pain in my leg. I had to put myself through the pain or else he'd be the one I would have to deal with. I limped into the woods on the side of the road, tears streaking my cheeks from the pain in my leg and the fear that rolled through my body in tremors.

I went as deep into the woods as I could, hiding behind a large Oak tree as I heard Jacob yelling from the road. When his yelling stopped and I heard his car roar away I slid to the ground again, my leg throbbing with pain as I pulled out my phone. I clicked through the contacts quickly as rain began falling from the sky, splashing against my tear stained cheeks. I held the phone up to my ear as the phone rang in response.

"Bella, what's going on?"

I felt a new wave of tears surge through me, "I made a mistake, I'm sorry Edward."

"Bella that doesn't matter, where are you?"

"I don't know, in the woods somewhere off the highway. I can't walk anymore and I don't know what way to go."

"Don't move Bella, I'll be right there." I shut the phone and laid my head against my knee, tears streaking my face as rain pelted my back. My leg let out a violent throb and I leaned back against the tree, wishing the pain would stop. I closed my eyes and pushed my hair off my face, letting the rain fall against my cheeks.


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's chapter nine and I hope you all enjoy. Let your friends or whoeve know about my story, I would love to get some more reviews and more people reading my story. As usual read and review, leaving me your honest opinion. Enjoy.**

**I don't own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does.**

* * *

Edward's Point of View

"Bella!" I yelled helplessly hoping I would find her soon. "Where are you?"

I walked a few more feet into the woods and looked every direction stopping when I saw a strange shadow at the bottom of a large oak tree. I ran over and saw Bella laying there, soaking wet, tears streaking down her face. Despite her body being completely wet I could still tell the tears from the rain. I walked over to her and squatted by her side, gently laying a hand on her arm. She yelped from the shock of it and looked up at me, tears still swarming in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around my waist and laid her head against my chest. I sat on the ground beside her and gently wrapped my arms around her as she cried against my wet shirt.

"It's okay Bella, I'm here." I readjusted my arms around her protectively and kissed the top of her rain soaked hair. "You said something about not being able to walk, what happened?"

"I, I was in Jacob's truck and I jumped out when he was driving. I think it might be a hairline fracture, but I walked on it to get away from him and now I can't even stand on it anymore."

I tilted her chin up at me for a moment, her deep brown eyes staring up at me, "Which leg?"

"My left one." I stood up and put a hand on her side by her hip, the other one grasping her right leg behind the knee and lifted her up. I carried her out of the woods towards my car. After I had her in the back seat I made sure her leg was resting across the seat before climbing in the driver's seat and speeding back to my parents' house.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have trusted him, I, I shouldn't have fallen for his act again."

"Bella, please stop apologizing. I'm just glad you're okay." I glanced over my shoulder at her, tears still pouring down her face. When I pulled into the driveway Alice ran at the car opening the door by Bella's foot.

"Bella are you okay?"

"I'm fine, mostly," I looked behind me and watched the two, looking away when I heard the front door shut and saw Carlisle running towards the car.

"What happened?"

"Jacob called, I fell for his trick again, then he forced me into his truck and I jumped out on the way to the Quileute reservation." I looked behind me at Bella who looked up at me, "Wait, where are we going?"

"Hospital, Edward thinks your leg is broken and I can't take care of that here." With that we roared out of the driveway heading back into Forks.

* * *

We walked in the doors to the emergency room and laid her down on an empty bed before looking under the bed and adjusting it into a sitting position. I walked over and sat her down by Alice as Carlisle went to find an x-ray technician to look at her leg. I looked from Alice to Bella and thought for a second on the best way to approach the subject.

"I think we should head to New York as soon as we can," Bella looked at Alice who looked at me and back at Bella.

"I agree with him Bella, I mean, I don't trust Jacob one bit, I never have. Don't you think you should just leave while you can without him knowing or finding out? I mean if we leave next week in a month when he goes back for the semester he's going to assume that's where you are and when you aren't he's going to have zero idea of where you are."

I looked at Bella as she bit down on her lip. She looked up at me and I pleaded to her with my eyes. She looked up at the ceiling and leaned back in the seat, covering her face with her hands.

"All right." Alice let out a sigh of relief as Bella finally agreed and Carlisle walked back in, followed by a lady in her mid 30's.

"Bella, Alice, Edward, this is Janet Hughes, fortunately for us, she's had a slow night."

I watch as she walked over to Bella, "So Carlisle tells me you jumped from a car?" She nods, "Alright, well let's get you to x-ray," She goes up by Bella's head and pushes the bed from its place and from the room leaving the three of us alone.

I looked up at Carlisle, "The three of us are going to head to New York sometime next week."

"I figured as much, but you better spend a lot of time with your mother before you guys leave. You don't comprehend how excited she was that you were actually coming back for a while Edward."

"I know dad, I'm sorry, but we have to get Bella away from Jacob."

He nodded, "I know Edward." We all looked up as Bella reappeared along with Janet.

"It looks like she's going to need a full leg cast Carlisle, crutches for a month or two then change it to a walking cast. It's not too bad of a break, but it's still a break on both the femur and tibia."

"Alright, thanks Janet," She waved and walked back from the room as Carlisle moved around the room getting the things he needed to put a cast on Bella's leg.

"I'll be back," I excused myself from the room and went out into the waiting room and pulled out my phone dialing the number of my partner in New York.

"Why the hell are you calling me at four in the morning?"

"Hello Jessica, it looks like I'll be back in New York before I thought, can you let Mike know so he can talk to the family we're defending. If it's at all possible, we can move the court date back up to the original date."

"I'll see what I can do, why are you suddenly coming back so early?"

I let out my breath and looked out the window, a surge of anger rushing through me as I saw Jacob shut his truck door, "I'll talk to you about it when I get back to work next Friday."

"Edward what the hell is going on?"

"Nothing," I walked out of the hospital and up to Jacob, "Bye. What the hell are you doing here Jacob?" I shut my phone and tossed it in the grass near us.

"Does Bella know about her? Oh wait that wouldn't matter because let's see, she's my girlfriend. Now get out of the way Edward, I'm going to go see her." He made a move to get past me but I shoved him back.

"You sure as hell aren't going anywhere near her. She's in here because of you."

"Because of me? She jumped out of my truck on the highway, how is that because of me?"

"You know exactly why Jacob, don't try to act like you haven't been abusing her. Why else would she jump, because she didn't want to get the shit beaten out of her again by you. Leave, now."

He shook his head and took a step towards me, "You really think you intimidate me?"

"I don't know, you seemed pretty intimidated the other day when you left holding your nose." Anger flared in his eye as he caught me off guard and threw a punch into my cheek. I pushed him back and punched him in the nose, a loud crack emitting into the silent night. He yelled a few select words and his hand flew to his nose, "You might want to go get that nose of yours set again." I turned around, grabbing my phone as I walked back into the waiting room and to the lady at the front desk, "That guy behind me that's coming in, his nose is broken, and make damn sure he doesn't go anywhere near that girl I came in with." The girl behind the desk nodded quickly, fear apparent in her eyes.

I walked back in to where Carlisle was busily working away at wrapping Bella's leg. I grabbed the curtain and pulled it around the station where we were and sat in a chair rubbing my cheek.

"Edward what happened? What's going on?" I looked at Alice who was looking at my cheek.

"Jacob's here, getting his nose set."

Alice giggled knowing why he was getting it set, "Edward," I looked at Carlisle and then glanced at Bella, fear playing in her eyes again as her hands began to shake, "I want you to go back out, but don't leave through this door. Find out where Jacob is so we can finish this in a room that locks, we don't have very much safety behind a curtain." I stood up, "Oh and get ice for your face, unless you want it to be worse than it already will."

I walked from behind the curtain and through the halls going out a different door to the waiting room and up to the counter, the girl jumping at the sight of me again. "I'm not going to yell at you again, it's just really important that he stays away, you understand right?" She nodded and still didn't move, "Look I need to know where he's at so we can move her, and a bag of ice would be nice." She nodded and stood up leaving the room. I glanced around at the waiting room beside me, all the eyes in the room staring straight at me, this being more interesting than the latest story about a celebrity in the magazines they were reading. I turned around as she handed me a bag of ice, "Thank you."

"He's in a private room off the southeast part of the building." I thanked her again and walked back in the other door and behind the curtain again.

"He's in the southeast corner in a private room, the doors closed so we can get there if we move now," Alice walked in front of Bella's bed as Carlisle pushed her and I went behind them, ready to stop Jacob if he suddenly appeared. Fortunately for us we got to the one of Carlisle's private offices without Jacob's interference, he had done enough already.

* * *

**Alright you guys know what to do. Thanks for reading another chapter. I'm going to sit down today and write some more because I have ideas coursing through me today and I want to get them written down, or typed down I guess.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Well I have another chapter for you guys all in one day. That makes four for today and I still have another idea and might get another one up yet. So as usual enjoy the chapter, leave me your thoughts, etc, etc. I feel so repetative when I write these. **

**Anyway, as usual, I don't own Twilight.**

**

* * *

**

Bella's Point of View

Edward set me gently in the back seat of his Volvo again as Alice sat down with my legs on her lap. I laid my head against the seat and shut my eyes, listening to the fading voices of the other people in the car. I felt Edward lifting me out of the backseat of the car and I blinked a few times before looking up at him.

"Thank you," He looked down at me, a confused look on his face. "For everything that is."

He smiled, "Bella there is no need for thanks. So, do you want to try your crutches?"

I let my breath out in a sigh remembering that my leg was broken, "I suppose I should try and get used to them huh?"

He laughed and nodded and set me down as I balanced on one leg while he grabbed the crutches. I hobbled towards the house struggling a bit on the stairs to get in the house, but when I did the scent of baked good attacked my senses. I took a deep breath absorbing the scent as I heard soft thuds on the floor coming towards the door. Esme appeared around the corner and her hands shot up to her face when she saw me, a soft gasp escaping her mouth.

"Bella," She walked over slowly and I held my arms out, letting her know it was okay to hug me. She wrapped her arms around me, hugging me for a few seconds before looking back at me. "Do you want some apple pie Bella?"

I laughed, "Of course, I could never pass up on your pie." I hobbled behind her and found everyone else in the house sitting in the kitchen, baked goods ranging from pies to cake to cookies sitting around the kitchen.

"Esme bakes when she's nervous, even if it is four in the morning," I laughed, trying to ignore the butterflies that came from Edward's lips whispering at my ear.

"Bella, please tell me those crutches haven't increased your klutziness."

I glared at Emmett before answering him, "Well, I can't tell you that yet, I just got them."

His booming laugh filled the room as he got up and moved his chair by the empty one, surely so I could use it for my leg. I hobbled over to the empty chair and sat down, using my hands to lift my leg up to lay it on the other chair. I looked around the room and quickly looked down when I realized everyone was still looking at me. A plate with a piece of pie on it appeared in front of me along with a glass of milk and I smiled up at Esme before picking up the fork and taking a bite. The familiar delicious taste filling my mouth.

"Who else wants some?" Everyone took up Esme's offer but no one was as excited about it as Emmett.

"I could eat apple pie for breakfast every day." The room filled with laughter as Emmett quickly ate his pie before going and getting another piece. Within a few minutes everyone had finished and most had retreated back to their rooms to get a few more hours of sleep but Edward, Alice and I stayed behind with Carlisle to talk to Esme.

"Mom," She turned around and looked at Edward, the plate she was drying still in her hands. "The three of us are going to leave in a week." I felt bad as I saw the heartbreak apparent in her eyes. "Alice and I just think its best that we go down to Arizona and get their stuff and get to New York before Jacob can hurt her again."

She nodded, her eyes swarming with tears, "I understand its okay."

I felt horrible for causing her to be so sad. I got up from the chair and grabbed the crutches making my way to the living room and sitting on the couch, not having enough energy to go up the stairs. I laid back and her Edward and Esme's voices drifting from the other room.

"Mom, I'm sorry, but we have to get her away from him."

"I know, I just want you guys to stay longer. I never get to see you guys anymore." I figured Edward was hugging her because I heard her muffled sobs.

"I love you, Mom."

I sat up again and grabbed the crutches and hobbled towards the back door, shutting it quietly behind me and made my way across the deck over to the wicker bench, sitting on the soft cream colored fabric. I stared up at the stars that were visible under the glass awning. I heard the door open and close and looked up and saw Edward walking over and sitting down beside me.

"I'm sorry."

He adverted his gaze from the stars and looked at me, "About what Bella?"

"About making you leave early. It's breaking your mom's heart and I feel terrible. She's so sweet and wonderful and she's just like a second mom to me and I can't stand watching her be so upset." I wiped a tear that had fallen and looked back up at the stars.

"Bella, she understands. It's fine. I mean sure she's upset, but she thinks of you like you do her. You are like another daughter to her and she wants you to be safe Bella." We sat there in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again, "Come on."

"What?" He stood up and motioned for me to follow him. I hobbled over with the crutches and waited for him while he ran into the house and came out with some blankets.

"Since the rain has stopped for a while I say we look at the stars without looking through the awning."

I laughed and followed him down the stairs, waiting while he laid a couple of blankets on the ground and sat the other one off to the side. He helped me sit down on the blanket and I lay back while he lay down next to me. I looked up at the stars, still amazed by their beauty as if I hadn't seen them a thousand times before. I rolled my head sideways and looked at Edward; he was looking at the stars as if he were trying to understand them. He looked over at me after a moment and smiled.

"I always love looking at the stars, imagining what people thought when they looked at them hundreds of years ago. I mean, everyone we could possibly name have looked at these stars."

I smiled at him, "I have never thought about that."

He laughed as I began to shiver. He grabbed the extra blanket and motion for me to scoot over. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and threw the blanket over us. I laid my head against his shoulder and looked back up at the sky.

"Tell me about yourself."

I looked up at him, "What?"

"Well I want to know your life story." I laughed, thinking of where to start, "Tell me about your family."

"Well, my mom and Phil lived in Phoenix most of my life, but they moved to Florida when I was a junior in high school. I moved in with my dad, who I'm pretty sure you know."

"I do?"

I nodded, "Chief Swan."

He laughed, "Chief Swan is your dad?"

"Yes, now stop laughing, anyway. I moved in with him and spent my junior and senior year here. Alice was my first friend here and I've spent many hours at this house, but for some reason you were never here. Do you have something against your family?" I watched him shake his head, "Anyway, I graduated and Alice and I went to college down in Arizona. I met Jacob the beginning of our freshman year of college," I acted like I hadn't noticed his arm tighten, "We started dating a few weeks later and were still dating a few years later."

"When did he start being abusive?"

"About a year into the relationship and I knew I should leave him, but I was afraid. But anyway now it's your turn, what do you do for a job in New York that you can afford a penthouse at 25?"

"I'm a layer for one of the most well-known law firms in New York. My partner is Mike Newton, he grew up around here too, and my secretary, Jessica, is Mike's husband and she too is from here. Mike and I were close growing up so when we both took an interest in law we went to New York together."

"Gotta love Forks huh?"

He laughed, "Gotta love Forks."

I tapped his chest with my fingers and pointed towards the horizon, "Look, the sun's coming up." I laid my hand back down on his stomach and watched as the sun broke into the horizon, the clouds nowhere to be seen for once. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of the sun on my face and slowly drifted to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**Alright, so for now I'm done with updating for the day. That may change later, but we will have to see. I have some plans for the rest of the day so you may have to wait until next weekend for some new chapters. Anyway I would like to say the usual yadda yadda and say please read and review.**

**Second, the usual, I don't own Twilight.**

**Third, I would like to point out that there are a few songs in here that are supposed to be like Edward wrote them, but in reality he didn't. So I would like to give credit to those artists. I think the only one is Sweet and Low by Augustana.**

**With that all said I would like to say, enjoy.**

**

* * *

**

**Edward's Point of View**

I felt Bella's breathing slow down as she took deep, steady breaths. Her calm breathing helped calm me enough o drift off to sleep. Somehow, knowing she was in my arms helped calm me into knowing she'd be okay if I fell asleep.

* * *

I heard soft giggles and I opened my eyes, squinting from the bright sunlight. I saw Alice standing there with a camera, trying to stifle her giggles.

"Alice, what are you doing?"

"Taking a picture, duh."

"Why?"

She rolled her eyes and looked at me as if I were an idiot, "Because you two look way too cute right now not to take a picture."

I felt Bella start moving around beside me and looked at her, "What's going on?"

"Alice is taking our picture?"

"Why?"

"Because we fell asleep out here and she caught us." I watched as she opened her eyes and her face turned pink with embarrassment. She sat up and looked around again, tilting her face up towards the sun.

"Why couldn't it be sunny before my leg was in a cast?" I couldn't help but let my laugh out and she turned to glare at me, "What?"

"Only you would be annoyed by that." She crossed her arms and pouted before looking up at Alice.

"Alice can you please help me up?"

Alice nodded and put her thin camera in the pocket of her sweatpants and reached out and took a hold of Bella's hand. I stood up and helped, placing my hand on Bella's back while Alice pulled her up. When she was up I handed her the crutches and gathered the blankets before we all headed back inside towards the kitchen where the smell of Esme's cooking was filling the house.

* * *

Unfortunately for all of us, the week passed faster than we hoped it would and we found ourselves packing our things in the back of my Volvo. Esme had made sure to make lots of baked goods for us to take with us and insisted on visiting in a few months. Alice climbed in the passenger seat and I got in the driver's side after getting Bella in the back. On the drive to Arizona and then to New York I couldn't help to glance back at Bella through the rearview mirror every so often. Her brown hair reached just below her shoulders and every so often she would catch me looking at her and he deep brown eyes would look back at me and her cheeks would flush pink. When she didn't notice she had her iPod headphones in and her head would be moving in time with the music and I couldn't help but smile to myself.

It took a little over a day to reach their apartment in Arizona and we stayed there for one night before we packed up the stuff and put the rest in a storage place near there. It then took us about three days to make it to New York and when we were on the outskirts of the city Bella turned her iPod off and started looking out the window, captivated by the city. I made our way through the city until we were in Manhattan and I drove the too familiar streets to the building I lived in and pulled the car into the underground garage.

When we made it up to the penthouse I let Bella and Alice in before going back to the garage to get the rest of the stuff. I stopped down and got some help from one of the people that lived below me and we got it up in a couple trips. I thanked him for his help and one by one took all the items into the pent house, Alice running up to me the second I walked in.

"Edward, why haven't you ever let me come here before? This place is amazing! Oh, by the way do you mind if Bella and I paint our rooms?" I shrugged, I didn't see why not.

I made my way back out into the hallway to grab the last bag when Tanya Denali was making her way from her penthouse across from mine. _Shit._ I tried to get the bag in the room quick and shut the door, but apparently I wasn't quick enough.

"Edward is that you?"

I turned around and smiled, "Nice to see you again Tanya, how have you been?"

"Well I've been better. Where were you for the last month?"

"I was out of town visiting family."

"I see someone's moving in?" I noticed how her face fell when she asked that.

"Yeah, you can come in and meet them if you want."

"Them, so there's more than one?" Her face picked up again when that thought crossed her mind.

"Yeah," I motioned for her to come in. Alice and Bella made their way into the room just as she walked in. "Tanya, this is Alice, my sister, and Bella, her friend. They are living here with me and going to school at NYU, so maybe you could show them around sometime."

"Of course I could," I looked down and saw her face plastered with a daring expression focused on Bella. Bella looked at her feet, trying to avoid her gaze but I could tell she still felt her eyes on her because her cheeks flared pink.

"Well Tanya, I think you should probably get going. We were going to head somewhere to get some paint."

"Of course," She put on a fake smile and waved at Bella and Alice and kissed me on the cheek before turning and walking towards the door.

* * *

Four cans of paint later Alice had her room painted and I had finished Bella's room. Alice had gone with painting one wall orange and the rest a very white yellow, while Bella went with a simple midnight blue. While we waited for the rooms to dry so we could move the furniture back in I excused myself to go do some work in my office while Alice and Bella sat in the living chattering away. I shut my office door and pulled my lyric book and my notebook filled with staff paper out of my bag and mad my way to the piano bench. I went to a blank page of staff paper and sat down, looking at the keys. I let my fingers do what they wanted and wrote down the notes every so often so I wouldn't forget them. When I finished the song I went back to the first page and wrote down the title, _Bella's lullaby._

I then walked across the room and sat down at my desk chair and pulled out the lyric notebook and another blank sheet of staff paper and went to the song I had written down back in Forks and read the title again, _Sweet and Low_. I read the lyrics carefully and the guitar part for the song came to me easily and I wrote down the chords as I strummed them out on the guitar. When I was done I went back and played the whole song, singing the words softly. When I was satisfied with how it sounded I set the guitar aside and slipped the staff sheet in with the song and closed both notebooks and set them aside. I picked up the thick stack of papers that were sitting in the middle of my desk that held the information about the current case we were working on.

I grabbed my headset and put it on before telling the phone to call Mike about the case and flipped to one of the pages that had a bunch of highlighted marks on it.

"Edward, what's going on?"

"Hey Mike, not much, but I'm looking over the case information and there are some parts we need to go over."

And so our conversation carried on and on and eventually after about an hour of talking about the case I said goodbye and took the headset off and threw it on the desk, frustrated by this whole case. I laid my face in my hands pulled them down my face, leaving them covering my mouth and chin before getting up and walking into the other room. Where Bella was leaning on her crutches and staring at the city's horizon as the sun went down. I made my way over to where she was standing and looked down at her before looking at the sunset.

"Does this ever get old?"

"Not really, where did Alice go?"

Bella shrugged and looked at the rest of the room behind her, "I thought she was on the couch watching _16 Candle_, but I guess she left."

I excused myself and walked up the stairs to Alice's room and found her sitting on her bed, her knees pulled up to her chest. I knocked quietly and she looked up and quickly looked away before wiping at her tears. I walked over and sat on the edge of her bed.

"What's wrong Al?"

She shook her head, "Nothing."

"Don't do that Alice, you never cry, what's wrong?"

"Jasper's still going to Arizona and I miss him." I scoot up on the bed and sat beside her. "Do you love him Alice?"

She nodded her head and wiped at her tears again, "Yes, more than anything."

"Then see if he wants to come up here."

"Really?" She looked back up at me as her voice cracked.

"Yes, I hate seeing you so sad and I can tell you really care about him, so go ahead and see if he wants to come up here."

She leaped up from where she sat and wrapped her arms around me, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She ran across the room and grabbed her phone before walking out onto her own personal balcony and calling Jasper.


	12. Chapter 12

**Well here it is, yet another chapter today. I thought I wouldn't get around to writing another one, but I had a jolt of inspiration and had to write it. I don't know where I got the inspiration, but I did. This chapter is insanely long, the longest I have ever written, but I like it. It helps the story develop for later chapters so don't get upset when you are done reading the chapter. There is a picture of what Bella's outfit looks like on my profile. **

**Please read and review.**

**I don't own Twilight.**

**

* * *

**

Bella's Point of View

A couple weeks later the three of us went down to JFK International airport to pick up Jackson who only had a few bags with him because the rest of the stuff we had already cleared out of the apartment. The second Alice saw him she was crying and ran towards him, jumping up when she reached him and wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him. I couldn't help but smile at how cute they were together. I sat up front with Edward while Alice sat with Jasper in the back seat chatting his ear off. Edward pulled over and I looked out the window and realized we were at the law firm he worked at. He quickly apologized and shut the car off and waited while we all got out of the car and locked it before we headed into the building. We rode the elevator up fifteen floors before getting off and walking towards the back of the floor towards an office that had a plaque saying Edward Cullen on the door.

He motioned for us to go into the office and he went off towards another office down the hall, one that I assumed was Mike's. Alice and Jasper quickly excused themselves and I watched them walk out of the office and laughed to myself when they quickly ducked into a janitor's closet. I looked around the large office and hobbled towards his desk. I picked up a picture frame that had him with Esme and Carlisle on the day he graduated from college, the words Harvard Law School etched in the stone behind them. I set the frame back down and picked up the next one of him with Alice and Emmett on another graduation day, this one I assumed to be from Forks High School. I guessed Alice to be just finishing up 8th grade in the picture and Emmett to have already started college. I jumped at the sound of a voice in the door.

"Oh, my apologies you're not Edward." I looked up at the person in the door; he was a little taller than I was maybe five foot eight? He had shaggy light brown hair and blue eyes. He was in good shape, his muscles apparent in the shirt he was wearing but his muscles weren't overdone. He flashed me a smile before continuing, "Are you supposed to be in here?"

I shrugged, "I assumed I could be, he let me in." I grabbed the crutches behind me and hobbled around the desk over to where the guy was standing, "I'm Bella Swan, his sister Alice, her boyfriend Jasper, and I are staying with him."

"Oh, well I'm Alec; I'm doing an internship here this summer. I'm a student at NYU."

I smiled, "Really? I'm actually finishing my schooling at NYU."

"Really, you don't say." He laughed, "Are you going to be around the office anytime soon?"

I shrugged, "I can't say for sure. I'm only here today because we went to JFK to pick up Jasper."

"Well, if you ever do stop by here again let me know."

"And how would I do that?" He laughed and shrugged, "Do you have a pen?"

"Yeah," He opened the folder or papers he was holding and handed me the pen that was in it.

"Hand," He put his hand out and I wrote my number down on the side. "There, now you can get a hold of me. Maybe send me a text or call me later so I can get your number in my phone that way I don't forget about this whole exchange."

He laughed again, "All right I think I can find time to do that."

"Stop harassing Bella, Alec." I couldn't help but laugh at Edward and I looked up at him, noticing his expression was serious and I quickly stopped my laugh. "Was there something you needed Alec?"

"Yeah, James's wife dropped these off earlier and said to give them to you." He held out the papers to Edward who grabbed them and opened the file and looked through the top few before closing the folder.

"Anything else?"

He shook his head, "Nope, so I guess I'll just get going then. I'll see you later Bella."

I waved at him and stood by the door while Edward walked over to the desk and sat behind it. I sat down on the leather sofa that was by the door and glanced out the door at Alec who was busy at the copier. When he finished one sheet he took it out and put in another. I then noticed that the copier was located right by the janitor's closet Alice and Jasper had gone into, poor Alec. I looked back over at Edward and watched him as he ran his hands through his messy, copper hair.

"Where did Alice and Jasper go?"

I pointed to the janitor's closet that Alec was standing by and I heard Edward let out an exasperated sigh and watched him walk out of the door and over to the closet door and knock on it. I busted out laughing when Alec turned and looked at me trying to figure out what the hell was going on. I started laughing even harder when his eyes went wide with shock when he heard Edward yell at the two of them to get out of the closet. When Edward walked back in the room he stopped right by door and looked at me as if I were crazy.

"What's so funny?"

I couldn't stop laughing, but somehow manage to get short words out, "That, whole, thing."

I noticed him start to smile and shake his head while he went over to the desk and unlocked one of the drawers on the desk before sticking the file Alec had given him in the drawer and locking it again. He stopped by the door and waited for me to collect myself again before shutting the office door and locking it while Alice and Jasper walked out of the closet, both their faces bright red and Alice's usually perfect hair a complete mess and it sent me into another set of giggles. I tried to stop the giggles and saw Alec smiling and laughing at me across the room as the four of us made our way to the elevator again.

Once the doors were closed I sealed my lips shut trying as best I could to keep the giggles in knowing he was upset with them.

"Okay, I know you two have been dating for years so I know you guys are having sex, but can you two at least not do it in the janitor's closet at my office?"

Alice's face was a brighter pink than I had ever seen and she nodded her head, too embarrassed to say anything which sent made me laugh. Since I was trying to keep from laughing, it probably looked like I was having a seizure or choking because the three of them all asked what was wrong at the same time.

"Nothing, I'm just trying not to laugh. I mean seriously think about it. We stop at your office and they sneak off to the janitor's closet which is conveniently located next to the copier. Then poor Alec, who has no idea what is going on is using the copier when Edward goes over there and yells at you two to get out and he looks at me wondering what's going on, probably starting to think Edward has lost his mind. Then you to walk out of the closet hair completely messed up and in disarray, faces absolutely red with embarrassment and Edward still can't see the humor in it. Lighten up." I knew they had finally realized why I was having such a hard time trying to keep from laughing when Alice started giggling and so did Jasper and Edward.

"Okay, it may be funny, but that still doesn't make it okay."

I shrugged; giving up on trying to convince him it wasn't that big of a deal. The ride back to Manhattan was silent and I noticed that Alice and Jasper sat on opposite sides of the car this time. When we got back to the penthouse I slowly made my way up the stairs and went in my room. I still had to master the art of getting dressed with a full leg cast and it took me nearly 10 minutes each time to change. I pulled on a pair of old sweatpants and a sweatshirt that said Forks on it and stuck my phone in the pocket of the sweatpants before going and sitting in one of the bar stools in the kitchen while Edward worked away at making dinner for all of us.

"Hey Edward," He looked up at me from the potatoes he was peeling; I ignored the butterflies I still got when I was around him alone, "Is Alec a good guy? He wouldn't hurt me would he?" I thought I saw something flash in his eyes but told myself I was imagining things.

"No, Alec wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Tell me what you know about him, please."

He looked up at me and I thought I saw something flash in his eyes again, but told myself once again that I was imagining it, "He's studying law at NYU, he's a year older than you and Alice, 22, and his parents are both still live in the town he grew up in, Alexandria Bay. Let's see, he graduated from high school with honors and has his college tuition almost completely paid for on scholarships. I think that's about all I know."

"Well thanks for sharing what you know," I flashed him a smile as my phone started vibrating in my pocket, "Excuse me," I got up from the stool and hobbled over to the glass door that led to the balcony and slid it shut, trying to make it look like I hadn't noticed the sound of the fridge door slamming. I pulled my phone out and looked at the unfamiliar number.

"Hello?"

"_Hey Bella, told you I'd call."_

"Wait, who is this?"

"_What, you don't remember?"_

I giggled softly, "Yes I remember, how are you Alec?"

"_Oh I'm pretty good seeing as how I met this girl today, she seems pretty cool." _I laughed again and sat down on one of the seats at the little table and wrapped the blanket sitting on the table around my shoulders.

"Oh really? Do I know this girl?"

"_Oh, I think you do. She's got brown hair, brown eyes, big blue cast on her leg. Speaking of which, do you mind if I ask why you have a cast on your leg?"_

"It is a long story that I'd rather not talk about right away or over the phone for that matter. Anyway, so what made you take an interest in law?"

"_Well, Aro, you know the one who's name is part of the name on the building? Yeah, he's my father. I've always looked up to him and I guess I just decided I'd like to follow in his footsteps only not be so focused on my work that I barely see anyone who matters in my life."_

"Wow, that's really sweet. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm just going through college without a specific major and I don't think that's going to help me very much when I graduate."

"_Well what's something that interests you?"_

"Hm," I paused to think for a moment, "I don't know, I like helping people but I don't know how I want to do that. Besides if I change majors now I'm going to have to start basically all over again and have even more bills to pay off later."

"_But wouldn't it be worth it to do something you enjoy the rest of your life then something you don't?"_

"Yeah, but I just don't know how to do what I want to do. I'm too uncoordinated to be a doctor and I can't stand blood."

"_I have an idea, law firms are always looking for therapists and such to help with extreme cases or you could do something like that or just be a therapist alone and not be connected with a law firm."_

"Yeah, but how can I help others when I can barely help myself?"

I looked at the door as I heard Edward open it, "Dinner's ready when you've finished your conversation." I watched him walk past the kitchen and towards his office and jumped when the door slammed shut and watched him shut the white curtains that had previously been hung open on the door.

"Alec do you want to go somewhere and talk? I need to get out of here."

"_Where do you want to go?"_

I laughed, "I have no idea. I could only guess where a good place to go is. If you haven't eaten somewhere with food would be nice."

I heard him laugh, _"Well, I have an idea. It's not fancy, but it's not casual, do you get what I mean?"_

I laughed, "Yeah I understand."

"_Do you want me to pick you up?"_

"Yeah, that sounds good. Do you know where this place is?"

"_Yeah, I've dropped papers off there before. It'll take me thirty minutes to get there is that okay?"_

"That's perfect. I'll see you in a little bit." I got up and hung up the phone and hobbled up the stairs and knocked on Alice's door. When she ignored me I knocked again a little louder. I heard her footsteps cross the floor and her head poke out.

"What?"

"I wouldn't normally ask you this willingly, but do you want me to be your Bella Barbie?"

"Do I ever!" She turned around and looked back in the room, "Sorry Jasper, I'll be back later. Okay, how long do I have Bella and what am I doing this for?"

"Thirty minutes and I'm going out to eat with Alec."

"Who's Alec? And thirty minutes? Bella what's wrong with you? That is not enough time!"

"You'll have to make it work and Alec is a student at NYU that's doing an internship at Edward's office and Edward said he wouldn't hurt a fly. Oh and he said the place isn't casual and it isn't insanely dressy."

"Okay, I think I can make that work." She marched back into her room and reappeared with an armful of makeup and a dress with a shoe hidden underneath it.

I hobbled down the hall to my room and sat on the vanity bench in the large private bathroom while Alice started with putting my hair up in a pretty yet simple up-do. She then turned the bench around so I was facing her and put a light smoky color of eye shadow on my eyelids and a hint of mascara. She applied a light pink shade of lip gloss and quickly threw on a clear coat of nail polish on my fingernails and my toenails. Once she finished and let them dry she pulled out the pale gold heel and slipped it on my foot, adjusting it so it would stay tight and not slide off. She then handed me the black dress that had a halter top way of closing on the back and left the room so I could change and I went out in the other room and twirled for her.

"I am a miracle worker and look at that," She paused and looked at her phone, "Five minutes to spare."

I laughed as she handed me the bag to put my phone and wallet in, "If I have to go to the emergency room tonight because of these heels, just remember you made me wear it."

She laughed and I made my way down the stairs and started heading towards the door going extra slow to keep from hurting my good leg in the heel. I stopped when Edward walked out of his office and into the kitchen. He looked up from the plate he was filling when he heard Alice and Jasper come down the stairs to eat and his eyes drifted from the stairs to me and the spoon of potatoes he had in his hand fell back in the pot. He cleared his throat and turned around walking back into the office and shutting the door only this time without such force. My phone went off inside the purse and I pulled it out and texted Alec back and told him I'd be down in a just a few minutes and went outside to the elevator. Pushing any thought of Edward out of my mind.

"Wow, Bella you look incredible." I looked down at my outfit subconsciously and felt my face flush again and I set the crutches in the backseat of his Prius and sat in the front seat while he walked around to the other side. When he got in I looked up at him and back at my hands, fidgeting nervously.

"I want to tell you about why my leg is in a cast and it's not a good story and I don't want you to get upset over it. It's the reason why I'm in New York so maybe it happened for a reason."


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry it took so long for an update, I wasn't sure about this chapter when I finished it so I put off putting it up here. Let me know what you think. :)**

**Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight, not me. :)**

* * *

Edward's Point of View

_Alec wouldn't hurt me would he? Tell me what you know about Alec. I'll see you later Bella._

The phrases kept running through my mind as if they were trying to haunt me. The image of Bella in the black dress kept flashing back into my mind and how absolutely stunning she looked. Even with the blue cast she could pull of the dress better than anyone could. I ran my hands through my hair again and punched the wall in anger. _Alec, Alec, Alec. _This kid was going to take her away from me. She had been gone for nearly two hours now and I was still upset that she was out with him. I mean sure, she never told me she was going out with him but who else would she be out with? He's the only other person she knows here besides me, Alice, Jasper, and Tanya, and after their exchange I'm pretty sure it wasn't Tanya. I tried the only thing I could think of to clear my mind and sat down at the desk and pulled the lyric book out again and scribbled down another new song and wrote down the notes for the guitar part and shoved them back in the drawer not wanting to try and think of a name right now. I got up and grabbed my jacket before heading out into the hall, bumping into Tanya as I went.

"Where are you off to so fast Edward? You look upset."

I looked down at Tanya and up over her head again, "I'm going out, want to come?"

"Do I ever," She stopped halfway through her sentence and cleared her throat, "I mean, that would be fun." She turned around and waited for me as I put my hand on the small of her back, leading her back towards the elevator. "So," She started speaking as the elevator door opened, "Where are we going?"

I looked up and saw Bella gaping at me while she leaned on her crutches. Tanya moved past me into the elevator and I followed her, stopping to hold the elevator door momentarily for Bella while she got out. I couldn't help but notice how stunning she looked yet again as she faced the elevator as the door slowly closed. And for a second I could have sworn I saw tears forming in her eyes.

--

The alarm clock buzzed violently against the bedside table and I rolled over to shut it off, cringing from the speed of my movements. I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling trying to recall last night. _Bella met Alec and they hit it off and she went out with him. I was angry and annoyed and was heading out and bumped into Tanya. We ended up walking to a bar a couple blocks over and getting trashed and when we came back we both ended at my place._ Shit! I dared a glance to my left and saw Tanya's naked body lying under the covers next to me. I looked at the clock again, it was only eight so no one else would be up and she could sneak out easily without anyone ever knowing.

"Tanya," When she didn't hear me I gently laid a hand on her and said her name again, "Tanya."

She mumbled something under her breath and opened her eyes, "What?"

"You need to go."

"Why? Last night was great." She smiled flirtatiously at me from under the covers.

"Tanya, no, last night was a mistake. We were both drunk out of our minds and you need to go."

She gasped and pulled the blanket off the bed and wrapped it around her body and grabbed her clothes, storming into the bathroom. She came out a few minutes later and walked towards the door and I slid into the boxers that lay by my bed and started following her down the stairs and stopped dead in my tracks in the middle of the stairs. Bella was sitting on the recliner with her casted leg perched on the footrest, the other tucked gently under her. She looked up at the sound of us coming down the stairs and froze the coffee cup that she was bringing up to her lips held in place as the book she had on her lap started flipping closed without her hand holding it open. I heard Tanya slam the front door behind her and yet I didn't move from the spot I was at on the stairs. We must have stayed that way for five minutes before she slowly set the coffee cup down on the glass counter next to her and rose from the chair trying to get to the front door as fast as she could. I ran down the stairs and gently grabbed her arm trying to stop her.

"Don't touch me," I let go of her am and when she tried to go towards the door again I ran around her and stood in front of her, "You know, you would still be able to stop me if I didn't have these damn crutches, but it sure would be a hell of a lot easier to get away."

When she finished what she was saying she looked up at me and I noticed for the first time since that night she broke her leg that her eyes were swarming with tears.

"Now if you don't mind, would you p-please get out of m-my way." Her voice started cracking as she finished what she was saying and despite everything I wanted to do, I moved to the right and let her get by me. She went out the front door, pulling it shut behind her.

I cracked the door open and saw her put her phone up to her ear while she waited for the elevator.

"Alec?" She paused for a moment before continuing, "C-can you come g-get me pl-please?"

--

All morning I had to lock myself in my office to avoid Alice and her fifty questions about where Bella was until I finally snapped.

"Edward, you are the only one up early in the morning and I know she came home so where is she?"

"Damn it Alice I don't know! I have no idea where the hell she is! She left this morning! All I know is she's off somewhere with that damn Alec kid!"

She stood there not moving as I grabbed my keys and slammed the front door behind me. I drove around New York for a while trying to calm down before heading into the office to try and get some work done. I didn't usually go on Mondays but I needed something to occupy my time today and get my mind off things and the only way I could do that was to get involved in some other person's problems. I parked my car and walked towards the front door.

"Good morning Mr. Cullen."

"Morning, Laurent."

When I got to the elevator I pushed the up button harder than I needed to and waited impatiently for the elevator. When it didn't come fast enough I walked around the corner and took the stairs up fifteen floors. Sure, by the time I got to my floor I was exhausted but it was a good way for me to vent. No one ever used the stairs. I walked across the floor of my office and saw Jessica sitting at her desk and she looked up, shocked to see me.

"What are you doing in today, Mr. Cullen?"

"I needed something to do. Can you call Mike and tell him to come in? We need to work on that case some more before the hearing Wednesday. Also, call my doctor and make an appointment for Isabella Swan. Tell him to call Carlisle and he will explain what's wrong with her leg. Before you do all that, can you please find me some water."

"Right away."

Jessica was a great assistant. She never complained or got angry and she never questioned you when you told her to do something. I think part of it was because she didn't mind doing things like that, I mean she was an insanely organized person, but the other part I think is because she enjoys working with her husband. Maybe she's not his assistant, but the company wouldn't allow her to be his assistant since she's his wife. I stopped in my door and looked back at her trying to get up and remembered she was almost eight and a half months pregnant.

"Jessica, just tell me where I can get some water. You are far too pregnant to be getting up and down over and over again." She smiled, obviously thankful.

"There are bottles of water in a cooler in the supply room across from Mike's office."

"Thanks, oh by the way, did you two ever find out the sex of the baby?"

She shook her head, "Nope, but if it's a boy we are naming him Eric and if it's a girl we are naming him Angela."

"Good names," I flashed her a smile and walked towards the room with the bottled water in it and drank an entire one before heading back to my office.

I left the door open knowing it would be shut once Mike got here and I hated having it closed all day. I wiggled the mouse to wake up the monitor of the sleeping Mac computer and opened a few files I had been sent over the weekend. I then opened my email and found an email from Esme that printed off would have easily been ten pages long. I was about halfway through when I lost my place completely. A soft laugh that I knew all too well rang through the room. I stood up and walked to the door and stood in the door frame, finding Bella instantly. She was leaning against a wall laughing at something Alec was saying to her. I noticed she was still in the pajama shorts and sweatshirt she had left in. Her hair was thrown into a sloppy pony tail and any sign that she had been crying this morning was not apparent on her face. I turned around and shut the door a little too forcefully for a loud bang sounded when the door clicked shut.

I kept myself locked in my office for a couple hours after Mike left and read the email from my mom over again. I sent her a quick reply making sure to make the email a little on the longer side so she wasn't offended and clicked send before locking the computer and gathering up my things. I walked into the bathroom that was in my office and looked in the mirror before splashing some water on my face and patting it dry with a towel. I picked up my jacket and walked into the other room stopping by Jessica's desk on my way. We both looked up as we heard Bella's giggle fill the room again and I swallowed the anger that surged through me for about the tenth time that day.

"Aren't they just adorable?" I looked down at Jessica from where I stood.

"Darling. What did the doctor say about that appointment?"

"Oh, he said you can bring her in on Friday at ten. He'll take another x-ray and see if it's safe to put a walking cast on."

"Thanks for your help Jessica." I turned around and walked towards where Bella was sitting and saw her glance up at me and look away. "Bella, I'm heading home, do you want to go now or wait for him to get done?"

She looked up at me again and quickly looked away towards where Alec was standing, "I guess I'll come."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded at Alec and got up while I handed her the crutches and waited for her to get to the elevator before walking behind her. We rode the elevator down in silence and most of the way home before I cleared my throat; she turned away from the window to look at me.

"You have an appointment Friday for your leg. He said he can probably change it to a walking cast."

She simply nodded before looking back out the window and started shivering. I quickly reached for the heat and turned it up for her. The rest of the ride being just as silent as it had been before. I kept glancing at her out of the corner of my eye wishing I could understand what she was thinking. So I could understand somewhat why she's so upset. When we pulled into the parking garage she did her best to get out as fast as she could and got her crutches, making her way towards the door and not bothering to wait for me. I waited for the elevator to come back knowing she probably didn't want to be around me right now and wished I had just dropped her off and gone somewhere else when I got up to the penthouse. I walked up the stairs and went to knock quietly on Alice's door to talk to her and heard her comforting Bella, her sobs ringing through the door. I walked down the stairs, startled by Jasper's voice when I reached the bottom step.

"What happened this morning when she left?" I turned and looked at Jasper. He was one of my best friends despite him being a couple years younger than me.

"I was angry last night and went out and ran into Tanya. We both got absolutely wasted and ended up sleeping together. She saw her leave this morning and got upset and left."

He sat there, obviously thinking about something, "Do you get why she left?"

"Not a clue."

"Edward, think about it. You're a lawyer, I'm sure even you can figure it out."

He got up and walked up the stairs, going into Alice's room with her and Bella. I stood in the middle of the kitchen absolutely zero ideas coming to mind about why she'd be upset. I know why it bothered me when she was upset, but why did she care so much? She was the one who ran out with Alec and it looked to me like the two of them were hitting it off pretty well.


	14. Chapter 14

**I'm sorry. I've really neglected this story. I'll be honest, I've had a writing block on this one for a while which is why the updates have started becoming further apart. This one is one of the worst ones for my writer's block. My other story that is usually frequently updated isn't quite as bad with the writer's block but this one isn't the worst, that would be my Secret Life one. I'm pretty sure I haven't updated that one in a couple months. So please, forgive me. (:**

**Anyway, like I said in my other story, let's work on some reviews, please. This story has 1,074 hits and only 19 reviews. I'd really appreciate the reviews and if you have ever read any of my other stories you know how much your reviews mean to me. I love getting reviews, wether they are praise or criticism. I love being told the positives and the negatives because criticism can help me improve my writing and write what you guys like to read. Like I said, please just leave me your thoughts. (:**

**Dislclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight, not me, but you're free to enjoy this twist on the wonderful series. (:**

* * *

Bella's Point of View

When I got home from my date with Alec I stopped by Alice's room and told her I was back and went to my room and got out of the black dress and put on a sweatshirt and a pair of pajama shorts. I climbed in the big bed and made sure to set the alarm for 7:30 so that I would be up and could talk to Edward. I drifted off to sleep easily anticipating tomorrow morning when I would tell him that my date with Alec meant nothing that he was just a friend.

--

BEEP BEEP BEEP

I reached over and turned the alarm off and jumped out of the bed and looked in the mirror at my mess of hair and threw it into a pony tail and went down the stairs as quickly as I could and put some coffee in the pot to start brewing and grabbed a large coffee cup from the cabinet. I ate a piece of toast while I waited for the coffee to finish and picked a book off the glass bookcase that hugged the entertainment center and set it on a table by the recliner and went back for the coffee before getting situated on the recliner. I tucked my leg underneath my body and the casted one in front of me resting on a footrest and glanced up at the stairs before getting the book and taking a sip of coffee. Twenty minutes later I glanced up from the book I was nearly halfway through and looked at the clock 8:02. Surely he would be up any second now. I picked up the coffee cup and blew on it before taking a sip and started lowering it watching the steam swirl up around my nose. I looked up at the sound of footsteps on the stairs and froze, ignoring the book whose pages were flipping closed.

Tanya stormed down the stairs and Edward froze in the middle of the stairs when he saw me. I jumped slightly at the sound of Tanya slamming the front door but my gaze didn't waver from Edward's. After a few minutes had passed with neither one of us moving or breaking our eyes I stood up as quickly as I could and grabbed the crutches. I tried to move as fast as I could to reach the door before he got to me knowing it wasn't worth the effort and he quickly caught up to me.

I felt his fingers gently grab onto my arm, "Don't touch me."

He quickly released my arm and I started moving towards the door again and stopped when I saw his feet appear in my vision, "You know, you would be able to stop me without these damn crutches, but it sure would be a hell of a lot easier."

I lifted my head and looked him in the eyes, knowing the tears were swarming in my own. "Now if you don't mind, would you p-please get out of m-my way."

He moved to the right so I could get by and I shut the door behind me. I ignored the sound of the door clicking open again as I waited for the elevator. I pressed my phone up to my ear, listening to the continuous ringing.

"_Bella?"_

"Alec? C-can you come g-get me pl-please?"

"_Sure, I'll be there as soon as I can."_

I shut the phone and hit the button that had the number one printed on it in an elegant script. When the doors closed I squeezed my hands together, trying to get them to stop shaking. When my tears spilled from my eyes again I reached up and wiped them away and walked out onto the main floor and sat on one of the overstuffed leather couches and saw Dmitri glancing up at me.

"Are you alright Miss Swan?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine." I stared at the floor for a few minutes before I heard the front door of the apartment building open. Alec walked over and sat down next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gently rubbed my arm up and down.

"What's going on? Why are you crying?"

"Do you remember what I told you last night, about Edward?"

He nodded, "Yeah, what did he do?"

I shook my head, "It's stupid. I shouldn't care who he sleeps with, it's none of my business."

"I think you know why you care so much Bella." I looked up at him and laid my head against his shoulder.

"I know why I care but I'm giving up on that."

"Why?" I looked up at him again.

"Because, he looks at me like a sister and I don't want him to just be like a brother."

"Have you ever said anything about it to him?"

I shook my head, "No, because I don't want to be humiliated when he doesn't return the feeling."

"But if you've never said anything about it to him you'll never know what he feels." I didn't say anything else, "Come on, let's go somewhere and eat."

I sat down in the passenger seat of his Prius and pushed the seatbelt until I heard it click into place. "I forgot how edible Denny's actually was."

Alec laughed, "Sometimes you just have to go back to the basics."

I smiled, "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Cheer me up despite the fact that I felt absolutely crushed a couple hours ago." He smiled as he started the car and pulled away from the parking lot.

"Do you want to go home or do you want to go with me to the office? Edward doesn't work on Mondays."

I thought for a moment, "I'll go with you."

He smiled, "I was hoping you'd say that." I felt my face flush pink and looked down at my hands.

--

"Okay, so I don't have my own office, interns aren't that special." I giggled and leaned up against a wall.

"I'll have to put in a good word for you."

He laughed, "Oh you don't need to do that. I like it this way; I don't have to do any cleaning." I laughed again as he went into one of the empty cubicles and came out with a chair, "For you." I laughed again and moved to sit down, but jumped at the sound of a door slamming. I looked up from where the sound had come from and noticed that the door to Edward's office was now shut.

"I thought you said he didn't work on Mondays?"

"He doesn't usually. Why would he be here?" Alec turned around and grabbed a stack of papers off the counter next to him, "Excuse me." He walked across the room and stopped at the cubicle that was in front of Edward's office and handed the papers to the lady sitting there and looking up at me and smiling before motioning for me to come over. I made my way over there as quick as I could, "Bella, this is Jessica Newton, Jessica this is Bella Swan."

"Hi Bella, it's nice to meet you." I returned Jessica's smile, "Sometime, when I'm not so immobile, we should get together."

I nodded, "That'd be nice." I looked up as a guy with dirty blonde hair that was about my height walked up to where we stood. He leaned over and kissed Jessica on the cheek.

"Is Edward here?"

She nodded, "Yeah, he's in his office."

He turned to look at Alec, "I need you to get me the details from my meeting Saturday afternoon."

"I have them right here," He shuffled through the papers he had brought across the room with him and handed him a manila envelope filled with numerous papers.

He looked past Alec at me and extended his hand, "I'm Mike."

I took his hand and shook it, "Bella." He took the papers from Alec and walked to Edward's door, knocking once before opening the door and walking in.

"Jessica, I'm going to take Bella to get some lunch, we'll be back in about an hour." I followed Alec toward the elevator, flashing him a smile.

--

A few hours after we got back from lunch, Alec walked over to where I was sitting and leaned against the wall, "You look a little bored."

I smiled, "I'm not actually, I like watching people work. Everyone has their own little twitch when they work. Like Jessica, when she's focusing she always chews on the top of her pen. That guy over there," I pointed to a guy across the room that was copying some papers, "He tends to get aggravated easy and shove things that are bugging him away."

"What do I do?"

I laughed, "When you get confused you tend to scratch your head."

"Do I really?"

I nodded, "Just a little bit."

"What about you, you've been sitting here all day, what do you do when you're working or thinking?"

I shrugged, "I bite my lip a lot." He laughed and I blushed.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have laughed."

"You're right, you shouldn't have." I smiled at him and glanced toward the sound of footsteps approaching and quickly looked away as Edward walked over to where we were talking.

"Bella, I'm heading home, do you want to go now or wait for him to get done?"

I looked over at Edward again and turned to look up at Alec, "I guess I'll come."

"Are you sure?" I nodded at Alec and I got up, grabbing the crutches from Edward and going toward the elevator. Silence filled the small amount of space in the elevator and later in his car until he cleared his throat. I turned to look at him, his eyes stayed focused on the road.

"You have an appointment Friday for your leg. He said you can probably get it changed to a walking cast."

I nodded and looked back out the window, wishing we would get back soon. I climbed out of the car quickly and grabbed the crutches and moved towards the door as fast as I could, hoping I could get to the elevator quick enough for him to have to wait for the next one. I let my breath out as the doors shut and the elevator began its steady way up and when the bell chimed I moved out of the elevator quickly and noticed Tanya glance at me as she opened her door. She smirked at me before shutting the door and I felt tears welling up in my eyes again. I pushed open the door and went up the stairs, knocking on Alice's door.

"Bella, what's wrong?"

"Everything." Alice gently pulled me into her room and shut the door.

"Jasper, honey, can you leave, please?" He nodded and gave me a quick hug before walking out of the room. "What happened?"

"I got up early this morning because after my date with Alec last night I had decided I was going to tell Edward that there wasn't anything going on between Alec and I, that we were just friends. So I got up early, figuring after I told him that it would lead to other things that needed to be said, and I was sitting in the living room waiting for him to get up. Tanya stormed down the stairs and he followed close after. It's not like I needed a play by play to figure out what had happened last night, so I got up and tried to get out of there before I started crying. After I left I called Alec and I've been with him all day and now I don't know. Alec is so sweet and he makes me smile and laugh even when I feel like spending the whole day in bed crying. Then when I got home just now Tanya was going in her front door and saw me and smirked at me like I was below her and I just lost it again."

"You want me to tell you the truth?" I nodded, "I think when you saw Tanya leaving Edward's room you knew something had happened between them last night and you felt like someone had just punched you in the gut. So you turned to Alec and you've spent the whole day with him and now you aren't sure because you're starting to like him."

"I already like him what are you talking about?"

"You know what I mean Bella." I looked down knowing she was right as the door clicked open and shut again.

"Alice I think your brother is dumber than we originally thought." I looked up at him as Alice laughed beside me.

"What did he say?"

"I asked him what happened last night and he said he was angry about Bella going out with Alec so he left and ran into Tanya, they got completely wasted and ended up here. So I asked if he got why Bella left and he said no so I told him to think about. Surely someone who works in one of the top law firms in New York could figure something like that out."

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out.

_I'm glad you spent the day with me._

I smiled and quickly typed a message back.

_So am I, I don't know anyone else who can make me smile and laugh like you._

"Was that from Alec?" I looked up at Alice and blushed. "I knew it. Bella you like him."

I shook my head, "No I don't." My phone went off again on the bed next to us and I grabbed it quickly, regretting the sudden movement. She shot me a pointed look, "Okay, I might."

Alice giggled as I moved to get up from the bed. "Where are you going?"

"To my room." She shot me a fake glare and turned to smile at Jasper. I moved to my room quickly and shut the door behind me and sat in the oversized black leather arm chair that sat in the corner of the room. I sunk back into the chair, before grabbing the blanket that lay on the back of it and threw it over my legs. I opened my phone and read the text quickly.

_I'm glad, you deserve to laugh. _

My fingers flew over the keys of the phone.

_Thank you, :). _

A couple minutes later the phone went off again.

_We should spend another day together sometime soon, only preferably not when I have to work._

I laughed.

_I agree with both parts of that. :) I have a doctor's appointment Friday, so any other day but then._

_What about Sunday?_

_Works for me. :)_

I smiled and got back up, going out of the room and heading toward the stairs, thankful that the kitchen was empty. I took a pot from the cupboard and filled it with water and waited for it to boil. As the water began boiling I took some of the fettuccini noodles from the box and laid them in the boiling water. I melted the butter before adding garlic and onions and turned the heat to medium low before adding the heavy cream, parmesan, and Romano cheese, stirring frequently to keep from scorching the sauce. I turned the burner off and put the pot on a cool burner before straining the water off the noodles and poured the noodles in the pot with the Alfredo sauce in it. I mixed the two together before pouring it on a plate. I filled the sauce pot with water and left it to wash after I finished eating. I grabbed a wine glass and poured some red wine into it before positioning the plate and wine glass awkwardly in one hand and using a crutch in the other to make it to the small deck I sat on frequently. I sat the plate and wine glass down before positioning myself in the chair and throwing the blanket over my legs and eating the pasta in silence, enjoying the view. I took a sip from the wine glass as the door slid open and slammed shut. I jumped and the wine spilled from the glass on to the front of my shirt and the white blanket.

"Shit." I looked up as Edward turned his head, obviously not aware that I was out there.

"I'm sorry; I didn't know you were out here."

I looked up at him, confused as to why he was apologizing, this was his home. "I'm sorry; I just ruined your blanket. I'll replace it I swear."

He shook his head, "Don't worry about it." He took the blanket from me and held it in his hands. "I'm sorry about today."

It was my turn to shake my head, "You have nothing to apologize to me for. Your life is none of my business." I stood up and tried to rebalance the plate and glass as I made my way inside, unfortunately the plate and glass decided to fall from my shaking hands. "Shit." Edward walked in right after he heard the glass shatter, "This night just keeps getting better."

"I'll clean this up."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded and went to get a broom and I made my way into the kitchen to clean up the dishes I had dirtied earlier. Neither of us said a word as we each worked on our own individual chores. I looked up once and watched him work at cleaning up the glance. My face flushed furiously when his own gaze rose to meet my own. I looked away quickly and set the clean pan off to the side and worked at scrubbing away at the pot I had used to boil the pasta. I risked one more look up from underneath my eyelashes and saw him still looking over at me and for a few seconds he caught my gaze and held it before looking back down at the glass, my heart beating wildly in my chest the whole time.


	15. Chapter 15

**Please don't kill me. I know what you're going to say I haven't updated in over a year and a half. I am so incredibly sorry. I had that terrible writer's block and then when school started again last fall I took on way too large of a class load and it has taken up all my time. I'm so terribly sorry, but I'm here to tell you all that I haven't fallen off of the face of the planet. As I looked back on the story it's like I power wrote and updated this story so I'm hoping it hasn't been too bad. I'm planning on slowing down my updates so I can write longer chapters for you guys and hopefully they'll be better than they have been. I mean, I did write 14 chapters in two months and then stopped. **

**But... I'm done with school in about three weeks and then I'll have loads more time to write. :)**

**As usual, I own nothing, just the story line.**

**Also, please review, let's see how many we can get on this chapter... and hopefully you all haven't completely forgotten about this story. :)**

* * *

**Bella's Point of View**

I closed the door quietly behind me and went across the room to my bed. The over sized mattress and down comforter welcomed me as I fell back onto the bed. I danced my fingers along the design of the comforter and stared at the door; willing it to open or for a knock to ring through it, but neither of those happened. A yawn overcame me before I pulled the comforter closer to my chin and wondered why today had to turn out the way it did.

I woke up a couple of hours later and stared at the ceiling. I thought moving here was going to make my life simpler, even if the reason I moved here wasn't simple at all. I got up and went downstairs to the kitchen and got a glass of water. I stood in the kitchen sipping the water and listening to the complete silence. My head turned when I heard soft guitar strums began coming from Edward's office. I walked over being as quiet as I possibly could and cracked the door open. I could see him sitting behind his desk with his guitar held in front of him. His gray shirt hung clung loosely to his body, showing every muscle. I swallowed and watched him play, unaware of my presence.

"What are you playing?"

He jumped and looked up at me, anger filled his features, but when he saw me the anger instantly disappeared, "You scared me."

"Sorry, I should have knocked. What were you playing?"

He shook his head, "Nothing in particular."

"I've always wanted to learn to play guitar." I smiled before blushing and looking down. I looked back up at him from under my eyelashes and saw him smiling at me, "What?"

He shook his head, "You shouldn't be embarrassed when you blush, it's endearing." This made my face flush even more. He smiled again and looked away before looking back at me, "I can teach you if you want."

"Really? I'd be so incredibly thankful."

He laughed, "Really. Here," he set the guitar down and pulled up another chair and sat in it, leaving his chair open, "have a seat."

"You don't have to give me your seat." He shook his head, showing zero intention of moving back. I took my seat and watched him as he leaned over and handed me his guitar. When I was unable to get even a note to come out that didn't sound like a dying cat, he hesitantly put his hands over mine and helped me position my hands. He brought my right hand down and a mixture of chords softly played through the guitar. I smiled and looked up at him, he was watching me intently. I swallowed and took a deep breath, "You know, I'm not nearly as fragile as you think I am."

"I don't think you realize how fragile you actually are." My eyes were locked with his and my words came out slowly when I finally spoke.

"Who are you trying to convince?"

He shook his head, "I don't really know."

I could feel his breath on my lips and my eyes broke their lock with his and looked down at his lips. I bit my lip gently before looking back up at his eyes, what I saw in them made my decision for me. I pressed my lips to his and his reaction was almost instant. His hand was on the small of my back and the other on my side as my hands wound into his hair. His lips moved in sync with mine until my mind caught up with my actions. I pulled away from him and ran my fingers through my hair before looking away.

"I should probably get to bed. I, uh, have an early morning tomorrow." I tried my best not to notice the look on his face, but I looked anyway. The look I saw there made my heart feel like it was being torn in half.

The next morning when I went downstairs I made sure I was ready to leave if Edward was in the kitchen. I didn't see anyone down there so I made my way into the kitchen and put a couple of pieces of toast into the toaster and poured a glass of orange juice while I waited. When the bread was done I spread a little jam on the pieces and walked over to the doors to Edward's office. I looked at the stairs before gently opening them and shutting them behind me. The room had brown walls with beige curtains to match. The furniture all coordinated perfectly with each other and I laughed to myself knowing that Alice must have decorated when she came out here a few years back.

I sat down in the big lounge chair in the corner of the room and lay back against the seat while I ate. This room could easily be my favorite in the whole place. I closed my eyes and pictured myself sitting at the piano, my fingers running over the keys. A smile spread across my face as I let my dream play on.

_My fingers ran across the keys to a familiar song, My Guardian Angel by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. I continued playing not noticing the doors opening and closing, or noticing the person walking over to where I sat until his lips were at my ears._

"_I will never let you fall_

_I'll stand up with you forever_

_I'll be there for you through it all_

_even if saving you sends me to Heaven."_

_I let my fingers continue their path as the smooth voice continued singing the words softly into my ears._

"_Cause you're my, you're my, my _

_My true love, my whole heart_

_Please don't throw that away."_

_I smiled at the voice, but never faultered from watching my fingers on the keys._

"_Cause I'm here for you,_

_Please don't walk away, _

_And please tell me you'll stay, stay."_

_As the notes on the piano let out their final ring so did the voice in my ears._

"_I will never let you fall,_

_I'll stand up with you forever."_

_I turned my head and smiled at him. His face inches from mine. His hands wrapped around my body and his fingers gently touched the ring on my finger. He kissed me once and looked at me again._

"_I love you, Bella."_

_I smiled and kissed him once more before answering him, "I love you too, Edward, always."_

"Bella," I felt a hand on my arm but kept my eyes closed, "Bella."

I felt the hand gently rub up and down on my arm and I slowly opened my eyes and looked at the person standing over me. I stretched gently and looked around remembering where I was before looking back at Edward.

"What time is it?"

"ten thirty."

I laid my head in my heads and looked up at him, "No use going to class now, its half over. I think I'll just stay home today."

He smiled and went over to the desk and picked up the phone, "If you don't mind I think maybe I'll join you."

I smiled, as much as I wanted to say something about what happened last night I couldn't get myself to do it. I watched as he called the office and told Mike he was taking the day off before he stood up and looked over at me.

"What's your favorite game to play?"

I looked at him, "Like board game?"

He smiled, "Any kind of game."

I thought for a moment and smiled, "I do love a good game of Monopoly, but I will warn you, I hate to lose."

He laughed and walked around the desk to the white closet doors. He pulled them open and reached up to the top shelf of the closet and pulled out the Monopoly box.

"You have the classic version."

He looked over at me, "Is there something wrong with that?"

I shook my head, "No I'm glad you have the classic. There are way too many different kinds out there. I like to keep things simple."

He laughed and patted the ground next to him as he took a seat and began setting everything up.

"You're cheating!"

I reached across the board and tried to take the money from his hands.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

He smiled at me and held the money out of my reach, "I saw you take extra money!"

I reached forward and held the end of the money in my fingers as he tried to get the money out of my grasp again. He used his free hand and tickled my side.

"That isn't fair!"

I continued to hold onto the money as he tickled me, my laughs filling the room.

"Alright, alright you win," he stopped tickling me but left his hand on my side as he sat the money down on the ground in front of us. I took the opportunity to snatch the money and stand up as my stomach growled loudly.

"You sound hungry, are you opposed to Chinese food?"

I shook my head, "I love it."

I watched him walk into the kitchen and grab the phone. He dialed a number into the phone that he seemed to have memorized and I walked over to the couch and sat down, pulling the throw off the back and tossing it over me.

When the food was delivered he brought it over to where I was sitting and went into the kitchen and grabbed two cans of Diet Coke. He opened the boxes and looked up at me sheepishly.

"I hope I got something you liked. I realized after I hung up that I never asked what you liked."

I looked at all the boxes in front of me, "Well it looks like you got almost everything off the menu."

I looked at him and smiled before looking at the food again and spying a box of kung pao chicken and reached for it instantly. He quickly grabbed the box and handed it to me and smiled.

"I take it you like the kung pao chicken?"

"It's my favorite."

We sat in silence while we ate. Usually silence would bother me, but with him it was okay. I watched him as we ate and felt myself laughing at his reactions as he tried something he'd never had before. Eventually I sat the box down on the table and looked down at him.

"If I eat anymore I might throw up."

He laughed and looked at all the boxes, "I think we'll be eating Chinese food for weeks."

I laughed as he picked up all the boxes and stuck them in the fridge before walking back over. He slid the now empty coffee table over to the side and grabbed a few blankets from the closet and laid them out on the floor, leaving one off to the side before putting his hand in front of me. I reached up and gently took his hand as he helped me sit down on the blankets as he sat down beside me after grabbing the remote.

He looked over at me, "Pick a movie, any movie."

I thought for a moment and smiled before looking back at him, "I haven't seen Dear John yet."

He smiled, "I think we can find that one."

He turned the tv on and began clicking buttons as he scrolled through the list of movies before stopping on Dear John and ordered it, smiling at me before setting the remote to the side after turning the lights off. He reached over and grabbed the extra blanket and spread it over our legs before helping me wrap the throw from the couch around my shoulders and arms.

"_I'm a Coin of the United States Army__. __I was minted in the year 1980__. __I've been punched from sheet metal__. __I've been stamped and cleaned__, __my edges have been rimmed and beveled__, __but now I have two small holes in me__. I__'m no longer in perfect condition"_

As the opening lines of the movie played out I subconsciously leaned against him as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. Tears were present in my eyes throughout the movie and eventually they ran down my face. I felt embarrassed, but I couldn't help myself. Instead of him laughing like I thought he would he gently ran his hand up and down where it was on my arm and I welcomed the comforting action. Eventually the movie ended, but I made no move to sit up. I felt more safe than I had in years just sitting here like this.

**Edward's Point of View**

I smiled when she didn't move to get up after the movie ended. I reached over and grabbed the remote before going through the list of movies and ordering another one that would make her laugh. I scooted down a little more so I was lounging against the couch and waited while Bella did the same. She lay against my chest again and my arm wrapped around her again. I smiled every time she laughed and spent more of the time watching her than watching the movie. The way her smile would spread across her face and the way her laugh rang quietly in the room. I could listen to her laugh every day for the rest of my life.

I watched as a yawn escaped from her mouth and as she slowly curled up against me as her eyelids slowly began closing as she tried her hardest to stay awake. Whether she knew she'd lose and gave up or if sleep had simply overpowered her fight her eyes slowly closed as her breathing became slower. I smiled at the peaceful expression that appeared on her face as she slept. Sometime between when she had fallen asleep and the time her cries woke me up I myself had fallen asleep. I blinked a few times before I remembered where I was.

"No… stop.."

I looked down at Bella who hadn't moved since the time I had fallen asleep, but her cheeks were wet with tears. I gently tried to wake her up knowing that if I woke her up abruptly it may startle her even more.

"Bella, Bella wake up it's a dream."

She jumped awake and pulled away from me, her tears flowing down her face, "No!"

After she said it her face fell into her hands and sobs tore through her body, "I'm so sorry. I, I thought you were Jacob."

I shook my head, "Bella you don't need to explain yourself to me."

"It, it was terrible," her tears began flowing again, if not faster than they had been before, "He, he found me here, but there was no one there to save me."

Her sobs filled the room and I gently pulled her in and wrapped my arms around her trying to comfort her, "Don't worry Bella. I won't let him hurt you again."

* * *

**I hope you guys liked it. Please do what you all know how to and leave me your thoughts in a fabulous review, I tend to give out sneak peeks when you review. :)**


End file.
